Football's regular season ended with a Big 12 Championship for a special group of Oklahoma Sooners. Now that the Sooners are beginning preparations for Boise State and the Fiesta Bowl, SooonerScoop.com Editor Carey Murdock is taking a look back at the season that was and handing out his awards for several Sooner standouts this season.

The writers and coaches have had their say for Big 12 honors, now we break it down and honor the Sooners' best for 2006.

Without Thompson's emergence as a leader and a playmaker for Oklahoma offense, Bob Stoops could have been staring down the barrel of another 8-4 season in Norman. Rhett Bomar's dismissal should have taken the wind out of Oklahoma's championship sails this season.

Just think back to how quickly Oklahoma dropped in the national polls after the voters recalculated their expectations for the Sooners in the week's following Bomar's loss. This was a team that became void of expectations.

But Thompson pulled it all together. Though not perfect nor flawless, Thompson was as big a playmaker as anyone could have hoped for this season. His deep accuracy improved almost overnight from a year ago. When Oklahoma needed Thompson to step up in games against Texas Tech and Nebraska to finish out the season, he gladly made a difference.

And his leadership may have been the driving force behind Oklahoma's Big 12 Championship run in 2006.